Text Alerts for Families

Growing up, I was part of a large family—five siblings, plus my mom and dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. As I got older, my family has only grown. Several siblings got married and had kids, and recently I have gotten married and have added my in-laws to my ever-growing list of family members. Now just our immediate family gatherings consist of 20 or more people.

I LOVE having a big family. I love the laughs and the chaos and the craziness. There is always something going on, someone to spend time with.

One problem with having such a large family is communication. You can imagine the confusion of trying to communicate with so many different people. Especially events such as family reunions, vacations, holidays, and other special times can be very chaotic and messy. The arrival of texting and of smartphones have made this kind of communication much easier. If we had been able to easily send out mass text messages 10 or 15 years ago, things would have been a lot less complicated. Using text alerts for families would be very useful!

Let’s say, for example, I am planning a large family reunion and am expecting 50 people from all across the country to come. It would be such a huge hassle to try to get in touch with everybody to get them on the same page in terms of plans and itineraries. Paper itineraries work fine, but people forget things and plans often change. How easy would it be to just add everyone to a group and send them all mass texts with the click of a button?

“Hey everyone! Glad you all could make it! At 7:00 we are eating dinner at the Mexican restaurant off of 30th Street, for whoever wants to join. Don’t forget to bring something to the potluck picnic tomorrow at 6:00 at Glenwood Park!”

“Come pick up your Johnson Family Reunion T-shirts from Tina.”

“We are having a board game night at the Levinson campground in one hour.”

What a useful and simple way to utilize technology to help keep family close!